There’s no magic remedy for the six-figure shortfall of affordable housing in Colorado. That much is clear in the postmortems on ballot measures 2R in Denver and 1A in Adams County, where voters rebuffed sales-tax increases to help fund affordable housing.
While funding is absolutely critical, it’s time elected leaders, public entities, private partners and communities shake off those losses, and get to work on strategies that address the depth and complexity of Colorado’s housing needs.
Here are four common-sense strategies that can move the needle on affordable housing in 2025.
1. Leverage publicly owned land and emphasize urban infill
Land availability is a persistent challenge, and a solution is hiding in plain sight.
Cities, the state, school districts and public utilities own surplus real estate that could be developed as affordable housing. To be clear, we’re not talking parks and open spaces; we’re talking vast, underused parking lots and vacant land.
Case in point: The State Land Board allowed land it owns a block from the state Capitol to be developed into 103 affordable apartments in a long-term ground lease. Meanwhile, the Regional Transportation District is working with mission-minded developers to transform an RTD parking lot on the L line in Five Points into 62 affordable condos.
This kind of proactive, affordable development on publicly owned urban sites is one piece of the housing puzzle, particularly near transit. It reduces displacement, advances environmental goals and creates permanent community resources. Urban Land Conservancy and others have been land-banking in pursuit of affordable housing for years. It’s time public entities think of their unused parcels as potential land banks.
2. Loosen land-use restrictions
Rigid land-use restrictions hamper affordable housing.
In 2023, Gov. Jared Polis pushed for a broad land-use bill that would have rewritten development rules for municipalities and helped mitigate the state’s housing crisis.
The bill failed, but the governor had success in 2024 with bite-sized versions of land-use legislation that created opportunities for more accessory dwelling units, and denser development along transit corridors.
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Denver, to its credit, has been ahead of the curve with land use that prioritizes affordable housing. In 2010 the city began rezoning properties along transit corridors to incentivize denser development; then in 2021 and 2022 reduced parking requirements and provided building height incentives for new affordable housing. Changes like these made possible The Irving — 102 permanently affordable apartments now underway on West Colfax.
Other cities have made some progress in these areas, but there’s still work to be done on land use to pave the way for more affordable housing developments.
3. Set clear parameters on community involvement in housing development
Local residents are key stakeholders in the delivery of affordable housing. All of us can help ensure that developments meet community needs, and we know Coloradans overwhelmingly support affordable housing in the aggregate.
The challenge developers face isn’t with communities in a broad sense — it’s with NIMBYs whose conscious or unconscious biases lead them to oppose specific, new affordable housing under the guise of parking, traffic or infrastructure. Throughout regulatory processes in many cities, vocal minorities are equipped with an imbalance of power to derail good work.
Comprehensive community planning — which includes land-use strategies to manage growth and development — must include meaningful community input up front. When done right, citywide and neighborhood plans can then reduce or eliminate the need for community input that can slow or stop specific projects.
4. Reduce red tape and speed up processes
Overregulation and burdensome processes stunt development and artificially spike costs.
No city or state agency has figured out how to truly simplify its processes, though several are trying to reduce red tape. The governor is doing his part, too. After voters in 2022 passed Proposition 123 creating the state affordable housing fund, Polis signed an executive order in 2023 directing state agencies to drastically speed up distributing funds.
Affordable housing providers continue to look to the state to provide timely and predictable distribution of land-banking funds, for example, to make it possible to acquire property. With the governor’s energy behind it, we’re hopeful.
Prop. 123 also required local planning and zoning departments to fast-track affordable housing permits within 90 days. It’s a challenge for any city, but it’s essential if we are to deliver on the promise of Prop. 123.
The affordable housing need has never been greater. Our leaders have the will to get it done, and Colorado’s affordable housing developers are ready to meet the challenge.
It’s time we all step up to advance thoughtful solutions that recognize the complex challenges we face. The future of our communities depends on it.
Aaron Miripol, of Denver, is president and CEO of Urban Land Conservancy, a Denver-based nonprofit real estate organization.
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